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Cougar attacks 14-year-old boy in flight
Southwest Airlines is being sued. A passenger claims that the airline's flight attendants weren't able to protect his 14-year-old son from the prowling of an in-flight cougar. The older female passenger, he claims, offered his son illegal drug and made sexual advances during the flight to Orlando on July 13, 2008. The teenager was traveling alone, according to the Associated Press, and "was so frightened by the experience that he refused to return home by himself, so his father flew down to accompany him home."According to the family's attorney, Jeffrey Deutschman, the kid asked to be moved to another seat "repeatedly," but the flight attendants wouldn't let him do so. Southwest isn't commenting on the lawsuit. The family is looking for more than $50,000.
[photo by Harlequeen via Flickr]
Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 11)
Astutefl Jul 14th 2010 1:38PM
A cougar? Is she is hitting on a 14 year old, she's a pedophile and probably an ugly one at that.
MIKE Jul 14th 2010 6:57PM
HE'S 16 NOW...
prezbob Jul 14th 2010 3:22PM
I wish when I was 14 years old a forty year old woman would have hit on me, those are the things normal 14 year old dream about. Whats wrong with this kid?
tony Jul 14th 2010 3:39PM
my thoughts too and all my hot teachers.
garypeter Jul 14th 2010 5:57PM
Is exactly what I thought. Ok, a 14 yo might be a bit overwhelmed all the while, however, being aroused. What kind of 14 yo boy does not fantasize about this and would be so dreary as to tell dad he was scared off by this woman and to then refuse to fly again unprotected? Where was the kid from? Some backwoods comune of ultra conservative Mormons? And to tell parents and have dad fly down to accompany him back as he is now so frihtened of flying? BS! Most would brag, try to take a picture or 2 and move on. And what does the airline have to do with it? Shall they now screen us for sexual desires pre boarding? An aspirin to this kid was probably an illicet drug. This kid, if all is true, here, has many issues...........move on, little man. Be flattered. It is the fantasy of millions to join the "Mile High" club! Yup, we are still stuck on that rock in Plymouth, puritans 'til the end!
leolux10 Jul 14th 2010 6:27PM
Um, did the possibility that the kid's either GAY, or the "cougar' had actually looked like Susan Boyle ever occur to people!?!?!?
Let the kid alone. He IS only 14. Sheesh.
JOANN Jul 14th 2010 6:56PM
40 Year old???
Where did you get the age on this person?
It wasn't in the story I read.
kevanstory Jul 14th 2010 7:42PM
The article didn't say how old this "cougar" was... but I remember when I was about 14 (back in the 1950's) I was gaga in lust with my best friends mother... she was 40ish and gorgeous... I regularly had wet dreams about her and fantasized about her taking little old me by the hand and showing me the ways of love.
JohnB Jul 14th 2010 10:34PM
Maybe it was a 40-year-old MAN the kid wanted.
Joey Jul 14th 2010 3:24PM
ummm How the F is the the airlines fault??? Maybe sue the WOMAN!!! Or have her get registered as a sex offender???!!!??? Or maybe cough up the $49 to fly on Southwest and actually fly with your kid to Orlando!!!! And either the kid is gay or she was a NASTY cougar, cause if she was hot he would have done it!!!!!
kim Jul 14th 2010 4:54PM
Um, Joey, maybe because the Airline wouldn't even let the boy CHANGE HIS SEAT!!! They ARE responsible (fill-ins for parents unable to fly) for children under the age of 15. My twins flew back & forth to see their dad, and if this had happened to one of them, you bet your britches I would've sued!!!! Do you have children??? Then you should have no comment!
wayne fulton Jul 14th 2010 4:47PM
The reason it's SWA's problem is that parents are required to pay for an unacompanied minor to be escorted up until age 16. There is a Flight Attendant assigned to keep an eye on the kid. Of course what flight attendant would think to keep a close eye on a woman sittting next to a 14 year old boy. Joey is right too that the real crime is with the woman not the Airline.
J. Edwards Jul 14th 2010 5:31PM
You as the parent should be responsible for your kids!! Not the airline, or taxi driver, etc. That's what is wrong with society today. Absentee parents wanting everyone else to be responsible for their kids!
Janice Jul 14th 2010 6:05PM
You have GOT to be kidding me? How is it the airlines fault? And, they were on an airplane. How was the "cougar" going to sexually assault the kid on the flight? Force him into the bathroom? Without causing a disturbance of some sort? I think Southwest ought to sue the attorney for his/her audacity for suing the airline. Until we hold the attorneys liable for frivolous lawsuits, then they will just continue. Not EVERYTHING is someone else's fault - stuff happens. Grow a pair and use this as a life lesson for the kid.
lee Jul 14th 2010 6:45PM
Hey, Kim, have you flown lately? There are NO empty seats on planes these days especially on low-fare flights. Did the kid tell the flight attendants why he wanted to change seats? I wonder if this whole thing is just a ploy to get a quick $50G. Is there any proof? Probably not.
BTW, yes, I have kids and I still think these people are crazy to sue the airlines.
George Jul 14th 2010 10:26PM
She can't be required to register as a sex offender, she wasn't convicted of any sex crime. Besides where are they supposed to go to have sex? I would think it would raise a red flag if everyone saw them heading toward the restroom, a 14 yr old and an older woman? Come on, now....
Bill Jul 14th 2010 3:29PM
Stuff like this I dreamed about when I was a teen.Darn it it never happened.
Ray Jul 14th 2010 5:02PM
You know Bill I had the same problem. There was this social studies teacher that I had that I still think about 45 years laters. She could have taked me into anything. But alas time was too fleeting the next year I was in Vietnam with the Air Cavalry. When I came home after the first tour I got to know Sandy much better.
VegetarianVigilante Jul 14th 2010 3:38PM
Fourteen years old is simply too YOUNG to give consent, and that is why there are age-of-consent laws. Why is nobody commenting on the fact that the so-called "adult" allegedly offered DRUGS to this child, by the way? I agree that the older passenger should be held responsible, and in a big way. The parents of this 14-year-old are damned lucky their child is still honest, and still innocent enough to be shocked by what happened. I wish this boy the best, in spite of his careless parents, and I hope that he can recover a sense of safety and the ability to venture out into the world. Let us allow children to be children until they are fully grown up on their own terms. If he doesn't leap at the chance to be drugged and molested, even raped, or at least pressured into proving he is not that horrible insult, "gay" or a wuss, then of course he has to be mocked by the fine minds of AOL's drunken, inbred public. What if it was your child? PS - I absolutely love the gorgeous photo of the actual, real, live cougar; we insult animals when we use their names to denote the embarrassing behavior of people.
jenna Jul 14th 2010 5:52PM
did you happen to think at all he your so called " honest kid" is lying and making up a story because he didn't want to admit that he was to scared to fly alone, because he's a 14 year old boy who's not supposed to be scared of anything or at least that's what the world make it seem like they're supposed to be